Terminal having lever clamping means to secure a conductor thereto



Oct. 23, 1951 w. PAHAL TERMINAL HAVING LEVER CLAMPING MEANS TO SECURE ACONDUCTOR 'THERETO Filed Nov. 15, 1948 lllllllllll I u uentor 38 WilliamPa/m/ Patented Oct. 23, 1951 TERMINAL HAVING LEVERv CLAMPING MEANS TOSECURE N GON-DUCTOR THERETO William; Pahal, East St; Louis, 111.,assignor to Leslie .V; Schrader, ,Belleville, Ill.

Application Nbvem'ber 15, 1948, Serial-Nb. 60,09'5- 2 Claimsr Thisinvention comprisesrnovel andiuseful im provements in a detachableelectrode: holder: and.

more specifically: pertains to" a novel. clamping means for;electrically rand mechanically securing an: electric conducting cable:to an; electrode:

holder;

The" principal. object. of. this invention; is to' provide? an.improved. clamping. means: for me chanicallyandx.electricallyconnectingan electric cable tman: electrodezhol'der:

The principalafeature; of this: inventionsresides" intprovidingranelectrically; conductive sleeve securedt to one: of x the jawsof asubstantially. 'con ventional; electrode holder together? with improved;clamping; means. for: mechanically and electrically securing. andelectrically conductive cable in: said sleeve;

A. furtherr feature of the; inventioniresides-i in providing onerof.thei-ja-ws ofa ani-electrode holderz' clamp; with a. sleeve, said:sleeve being slottedi; longitudinally of its length to receive'aclamping-i levennsaid; clamping: lever having a cam portion forfrictionally and wedgingly engaging the electric conductorof anelect'ric cable; for clamping the same to the interiorsurface: of r thesleeve. in electrically conductive relationtherewith;

A further feature of the invention resides in the provisibnwot a:clamping means for-"an electrode. holder in accordance with theforegoing features; together with an insulating housing I.

longitudinally-r slidable upon said: sleeve. for: re+taining'thelclamping lever in-itsclamping pcsi-ition,,and for.insulating the,.entire.. surface of the sleeve and lever.

These, togetherwith'zvariousanclllary features and objects of theinventionwhich will laterlbecome" apparent as the following descriptionproceeds, are attainedby this device, .apreferrediembodir'nent-ofwliichhas been illustrated byway-of example only in the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a conventional electrode holderhaving the novel cable clamping means applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view similar to Figure 1 but a part ofthe clamping means being indicated in section to show the interiorconstruction thereof, the clamping lever being indicated in dotted linesin its open or releasing position, the insulating housing being omittedfrom the clamping device;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the arrangement of Figure 2, theclamping lever being shown in its closed position, and with theinsulating cover for the clamping device being omitted;

Figure r is a fragmentary-vertical transverse sectional view through thedevice shown in.

Figure: l

Figure 5-is a vertical trans-verse sectional de tail view takensubstantially upon the plane of thesectionline 5--5-of'Figure 2'; and

Figure" 6 isa fragmentary elevational view of" aportion of theinsulating housing; forming.- a

part of this-invention.

Referring now more specifically to the accom.-- panying drawings,wherein likenumerals designatesimilar parts throughoutthe various views,it will be: seenthat the; numeral 101' indicates generall a.conventionalform of. electrode holder consisting of upper" and lower jawmembers. l2

and M respectively which are pivoted together" for relativemovementtowards and from eachother for clamping anelectrodetherebetween';

The :upperj aw member is'provided with: an operaating. handle l6; and:a." suitable resilientmeans:-

notlshown; is" receivedwithin ahousing l8 where;-

by the two."- jaws are biased? towards: each. other f for yieldinglyclamping an electrode: therebe+ tween. The: lower: jaw l4 isprovided:with an operating: handle. or'shank ill', and it is to this"handle-thatthevclampingdevice ofithiszinvention is to. be: applied.

This clamping" device? preferably; consists: of a m'etallicrsleevev 22which is immovably secured to the:shank 20. in any' desired: mannenithe:twoends ofsthe sleeve?being 'preferably open; Within the: open outer endiofrthe .sleeve' 2 2 is received aniinsulation'acoveredtelectriccable-24; havingfan electrical'=- conductor." at its center, the. endoi'zi' which is shown;- at 26; this end-being ad'abted' to beoreseen-i701"we. g'ed by a mechanism to besub' senuentlvdescribed?vinto: a mechanically secure and" electricallv' efficient. contact withthe innerwalls off the? sleeve 22; wherebv current suppliedi b xfthe?cable? 2451mm be transrnitted to: the'lower" jaw I4 013 the electrodeholder Ill.

As seen clearly in Figures 2 and 3, the bottom or lower surface of thesleeve 22 is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 28 throughany desired nortion of the length of the sleeve, but preferablyextending to the outer end thereof. A c amping lever 30. shown in dottedlines in its open osition in Fi ure 2 at 32, is plvotally mounted in thesleeve 22 and is swingable into and out of the slot 28.

This lever, as shown in Figure 5, is mounted between a pair ofcylindrical segments 34 and 3G, and is secured thereto as by a pivot pin38, which extends through apertures 40 in the side wall of the sleeve22, through the segments 3| 3 and 36, and through the enlarged camportion 42 of the lever 32.

The cylindrical segments 34 and 36 thus snugly fit the inside,cylindrical wall of the sleeve 22, embrace the lever portion 42therebetween, and serve to provide a restricted chamber 44, see Figure5, in the sleeve 22 for receiving the end portion 26 of the electriccable.

The wedging portion 42 of the lever 32 constitutes a cam, and ispreferably provided with a plurality of serrations or teeth 46 which asshown in full lines in Figure 2 are adapted to be wedged into the sidesof the terminal portion 26 of the cable, for tightly gripping the same,and establishing an electrical contact therewith.

It will now be seen that when the cable has been inserted into the opensleeve 22, the lever 30 being in its dotted line open position 32, thelever may then be pressed inward to its closed position as indicated bythe arrow 48, whereby the teeth or serrations 46 of the cam portion 42of the lever will tightly grip and retain the cable.

In order to properly insulate the clamping device, and retain the leverin its closed position, there is provided an insulating housing 56 whichis preferably in the form of a sleeve or bushing of suitable insulatingmaterial, and which is longitudinally slidable upon the sleeve 22 fromthe cable end thereof. This bushing, as shown in Figures 1 and 4, isadapted to substantially snugly embrace the sleeve 22, and lever 39 whenthe latter is in its closed position, thereby preventing opening of thelever, and releasing of its electrio and mechanical connection with thecable 24.

The outer end of lever 30 has a depending flange 52 and the end of thebushing 50 is radially notched or slotted at 54 to receive the flangetherein. Thus the pull of the cable 24 on the toothed end 42 will tendto urge the lever to its open position whereby the flange 52 will beretained in slot 54. By this means, the lever holds the insulator inposition, while the latter insulate's and retains the lever in closedposition.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will bereadil understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary.However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur tothose skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoingspecification and accompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit theinvention to the exactconstruction shown and described, but all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within thescope of the appended claims.

Having thus disclosed and described the invention-,what is claimed asnew is as follows:

1; An electrical connector for use with an electrode holder comprising,an elongated -electrically conductive sleeve for receiving an insulatedconductor in one end thereof, said sleeve having a longitudinallyextending slot therein, a pair of cylindrical segments disposed in thesleeve in spaced relation to said one end of the sleeve and in spacedand opposed relation to each other, a clamping lever normally extendinglongitudinally of the sleeve and disposed in the slot, a wedge portionon the lever adjacent one end thereof slidably projecting into the spacebetween the segments to clamp the bared end of a conductor, a pivot pinextending through the sleeve, the segments and the wedge portion so thatthe lever may be swung outwardly from the sleeve to partially withdrawthe wedge portion from between the segments, and an elongated removableelectrical insulating hand grip surrounding the sleeve and retaining thelever against outward swinging movement.

2. An electrical connector for use with an electrode holder comprising,an elongated electrically conductive sleeve for receiving an insulatedconductor in one end thereof, said sleeve having a longitudinallyextending slot therein, a pair of cylindrical segments disposed in thesleeve in spaced relation to said one end of the sleeve and in spacedand opposed relation to each other, a clamping lever normall extendinglongitudinally of the sleeve and disposed in the slot, a wedge portionon the lever adjacent'one end thereof slidably projecting into the spacebetween the segments to clamp the bared end of a conductor, a pivot pinextending through the sleeve, the segments and the wedge portion so thatthe lever may be swung outwardly from the sleeve to partially withdrawthe wedge portion from between the segments, a removable electricalinsulating hand grip surrounding the sleeve and the lever to retain thelatter against outward pivotal movement, a flange on the other end ofthe lever that extends radially outwardly from the sleeve, said griphaving a recess therein receiving the flange.

' WILLIAM PAHAL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,666,991 Cohen Apr. 24, 1928'1,935,061 Richards NOV. 14, 1933 2,279,508 Bergan Apr. 14, 19422,404,437 Donnelly July 23, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date26,663 Great Britain Oct. 3, 1907 432,272 Germany Aug. 3, 1926 609,472France Aug. 16, 1926

